


Creative Sessions

by Blubyl



Category: Figure Skating RPF
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-03
Updated: 2018-04-16
Packaged: 2019-04-17 20:50:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 9,562
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14197437
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blubyl/pseuds/Blubyl
Summary: Tessa shoots him an inquisitive look before teasingly saying, “Scott Moir, don’t tell me that you were just looking at porn.”He nudges her side as he fakes bravado, “I can’t believe you think so lowly of me, the kids are about to get here at any minute Tess. They might hear you.”---The one where Scott and Tessa get creative.Inspired by a tumblr post.COMPLETE.





	1. Red-Handed

***

 

\---

He uses the card to unlock the door.

_CLICK_

It opens to his surprise. He didn’t know exactly what to expect, he had never been in this situation before. There was always flirting, but not like this. In their fifteen years together, he had always been the shameless flirt. Never her, but tonight something was different and he was certain to savor every moment of it.

\---

 

He felt her lingering gaze on him, those gorgeous green eyes etching marks on his skin. A casual bump or two would have been no big deal. It happened all the time when they were younger, ensuing an all-out footsie war until one of their parents would take notice and halt the battle between them by promising to withhold their ice-cream sundaes after practices if they didn’t. But this was different, her feet were moving higher and higher, casually stroking his inner thighs. This is certainly not footsie anymore he thinks to himself as he tries to straighten himself in his seat. She smirks at him, noticing his discomfort from across the table. He shoots her a questioning look, but she just laughs, inching closer and closer towards his crotch. He feels himself turning red, unsure of what to do.

“Are you okay Scott, you don’t look so well?” Andrew asks sensing his sudden change of demeanor. Kaitlyn’s eyes darts to him as well. This was supposed to be a celebration dinner for them, a tradition Kaitlyn concocted when they were all younger; celebrating victories (by beating their so called “rivals” *BOOYAH*) and passing out piss drunk on failures (well this tradition was his anyways and he was too drunk to notice if others followed suit).

“I’m not sure,” he replies, his breath hitching a little. Scott looks directly at her food since he can’t summon the courage to look at Tessa straight in the eyes.

“It must have been the raw fish he ate today,” Tessa interjects, never missing a beat. “I told you not to.” She’s taunting him, aware of the fact that he stayed away from the raw fish and ate a nice and safe burger earlier. Teasing him with a playful glare, Tessa finds her target and gently caresses it. He was not prepared for this, and it was evident with his sudden knee jerk reaction of standing up, causing a small commotion in the restaurant as he draws attention to himself with the loud squeak of his chair. He tries to quickly turn around to hide his very visible boner away from his dinner party, especially away from Tessa with what she did to him.

Confused by his behavior, his friends all stand up, but it was Tessa who reaches his side first and assures the other two that she’ll make sure he reaches his room safely and prompts them to continue their dinner. Scott slightly pink in the face, his chin down-turned to Andrew and Kaitlyn softly says “Rain check. I’m so sorry you guys,” not really sure if he has a twinge of remorse in him in this moment as confusion takes over him.

He still can’t look at Tessa as he tries to process what just happened. They take shelter from the heavy rain by using the sides of the restaurant as they wait for a cab. After at least ten seconds of nothing but the sounds of the rain crashing closer and closer around them, Tessa finally puts her hands on his and directs it to the curve of her hips. “Don’t overthink it,” he hears her barely above the pitter-patter of the rain.  _Funny_ , he thinks to himself, usually he’s the one telling her not the overthink.  He slowly looks at her as rain washes the embarrassment off him and thinks about the invisible line he sometimes fantasized of crossing. Tessa’s eyes reach his, seeming to plead  _let go_. And so he does, slowly drawing lazy circles, not letting her get away from him as his hand drift towards her backside. He sees her smile as his hand finds the perfect spot. He smiles too.

They both run to the cab. It’s futile as both he and Tessa are drenched by the time they open the doors and get in. As quickly as they both say the address of their hotel, they’re making out like hot and heavy teenagers, occasionally bumping heads and wincing as they hit a rough patch of road. If the driver minded he didn’t say anything, but the amount of times they bumped heads with each other makes him think otherwise.

The driver coughs up the address of their hotel as they reach it, refusing to look them in the eyes as Scott hands the driver the fare. They walk hand in hand to their hotel, her pinky resting between his index and third.

“Stop,” Tessa softly commands him as they reach the lobby of their hotel, her hands suddenly not in his. This is it he thinks to himself, she’s changed her mind, now unsure of himself he fidgets a little. It takes him a moment before he realizes that she’s fishing for something in her purse. Looking victorious after finding the item, Tessa hands him a card, “Meet me in five,” she confidently chimes with a wink as she runs towards the elevator. He turns the card around, smiling as he realizes it’s for her room. Looking back up again he notices a janitor staring him down, voicing dissatisfaction as he hears the man harrumph and points towards his feet where a puddle has formed underneath where he stood and where she once stood. He profusely apologizes to the annoyed man whilst running towards an empty elevator.

Those five minutes were spent pacing up and down the corridor to Tessa’s room, leaving wet footprints on the floor. He still wasn’t sure if this was some weird dream of his or if this was some weird nightmare as his body starts to shiver, the rain finally taking a toll on his body. Whatever it is he’ll take it, because he’s always wanted her. He didn’t know exactly when it started, but with every passing year it became more evident, leaving tiny evidence here and there when his lips somehow find a way graze her lavender-scented neck at the end of every performance. If Tessa knew his feelings towards her she never said anything. But then again, she never admonished him for any of those intimate touches he left on her skin even after their performances ended.

It's now or never he thinks as he uses the card to unlock the door.

_CLICK_

It opens to his surprise. He doesn’t know exactly what to expect, he had never been in this situation before. In his dreams and nightmares he’d always wake up once he touches her door. But now he finds himself in a dimly lit room. “Tess?” he questions. As soon as her name leave his lips, she appears in a tiny black satin robe, sauntering towards him, leaving him breathless. Taking a while for his breath to catch up he mumbles, “Are you sure that you want this?”

Taken slightly aback Tessa circles around him and whispers, “Don’t you?” her hot breath stinging his ears as she casually nips at it too like it’s second nature. His vision fuzzes as he feels the heat of her body drawing closer and closer to his. “You’re so cold,” she says in a surprised tone. In this moment he turns around and looks at her with a slight disbelief as if to say,  _you’re the one who made me wait in the lobby for 5 minutes_. She doesn’t mean to, but she chuckles as her shoulders shrug and capitalizing on the moment Tessa tells him to raise his arms up, “I wouldn’t want you to catch a cold.” As he obliges her, she lifts his rain-soaked shirt and tosses it to the side. Skimming down the outskirts of his body her hands find its way to his pants. Removing the outer layer of his attire, she playfully tugs a little at his boxers as she removes the distance between them. He smiles in anticipation while slowly breathing her in. Without taking her eyes off his, Tessa’s hand travels beyond the seams and reaches for his coc-

 

***

 

“Hey,” Tessa says quickly as she puts a hand on Scott’s back. He jumps nearly out of his seat as he maniacally closes the lid of his laptop, nearly jamming the other in the process.

“Oh hey Tess,” he manages to blurt out, forcing a smile whilst twisting his body to face hers as if to say  _nothing to see here_. Tessa doesn’t buy it.

Silence fills the air as Tessa shoots him an inquisitive look before teasingly saying, “Scott Moir, don’t tell me that you were just looking at porn.”

He nudges her side as he fakes bravado, “I can’t believe you think so lowly of me, the kids are about to get here at any minute Tess. They might hear you.” As Tessa starts to look slightly ashamed Scott quickly nudges her again, “I’m just kidding” and adds on, “We should probably start to put our skates on,” as he points back towards one sleepy-eyed boy heading closer to them. Tessa smilingly nods in agreement as they start to prepare their class.

Scott puts his laptop back in his bag.

~

If she only knew what he was really doing, she might think even lower of him, Scott thinks. He’d literally die of embarrassment if she’d ever find out. But probably not before she actually kills him first. He just hopes that it auto-saved, he’d been working on that for nearly two days now and it’s too late to go back to before.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dear Reader,  
> 1\. Did it shock you? I hope you're not mad :)  
> 2\. This is my first time writing a fic in a long, long time, so any comment you give is greatly appreciated  
> 3\. This was inspired by a tumblr post, so I only take partial responsibility
> 
> ETA: Thank you guys for all the lovely comments, you guys just made my day *hugs all around*


	2. A Whole New World

Tessa meets Jordan in her apartment after a tiring day at the rink with a promise to have a girl’s day in to catch up with each other. They had planned to spend the day sitting on the couch watching a movie, with Tessa providing the popcorn and Jordan providing the movie (This time it’s Argo). This would be nice and all if she had enough time to catch up to herself, she thinks. It’s been a whirlwind couple of weeks since PyeongChang and she still hasn’t caught up with all the articles, twitter mentions and reddit threads about her and Scott.

Growing up Tessa’s ears would always perk up at the sound of her name being mentioned. She wouldn’t say that she was self-absorbed, but she loved the feeling of performing and being admired. She felt invincible with all eyes on her and Scott as they glide effortlessly on the ice, hearing praises once in a while and beaming when they stood on top of podiums.  

Popcorn suddenly smacks her in the face, stunned, Tessa shifts her focus from the article she’s reading on her phone about her and Scott to Jordan as her sister half-jokingly admonishes her by saying, “I can’t believe that my sister’s a narcissist.”

“But you already knew that about me,” Tessa lovingly replies as she chucks a couple of popcorn towards her sister.

Jordan slightly sounding irritated, “You need get off your phone you’re missing all the good bits and I’m not gonna rewind it for you later.”

“Okay Mom, I’m just gonna check my emails, give me a couple of seconds,” she moans in a mocking tone.

Refreshing her emails Tessa becomes excited after noticing her invite had finally come, she’d been waiting for at least a week. It had been a long time since she had to wait for something, usually things were given or offered to her before she even had the chance to ask. These perks she didn’t mind at all as she thinks back to all the clothing and make-up products she’s picked up over the last few years.

Tessa clicks on the link, not fully realizing the rabbit hole she just entered. Eyes wide she scrolls endlessly on her phone as she looks at hundreds of them. She picks one as she stares at the word count, thinking that she may need to pull an all-nighter. Tessa begins to read, forgetting about her sister sitting beside her.

~

Jordan steals Tessa’s phone after she had been staring at it non-stop, occasionally stifling a laugh. “What’s so funny?” she asks as Tessa tries to wrestle her phone back from her sister.  
  
“NO!” she exasperates, finally grabbing her phone back but not before her sister sees.  
  
“A fanfic?! Really Tessa?”

“It’s... It’s for research,” Tessa sputters out. “I need to know what people think of me, so I have the right sponsorships and stuff... and... and I might as well see what people are writing about me since they took the time and effort,” she clumsily explains as her cheeks starts to redden. Tessa feels her sister snorkle (a term they made up together when they were younger which was used when one of them would half snort and cackle). This is the second time she feels ashamed today, even more so than the first.  
  
Finally composing herself Jordan says, “But isn’t that just mostly about the supposed secret baby you and Scott have?”

“What?!” Tessa raises an eyebrow as she stares at her sister.  
  
“..Or so I’ve heard,” Jordan admits as Tessa’s eyes intensifies. At this they both combusts, laughing while their heads reach the back of the couch with their hands on splayed on their stomachs.

The room feels lighter as Tessa feels like she’s seven again without any secrets from her sister.

~

As Jordan starts rewinding the last the last fifteen minutes of the movie she asks, “So what’s up with you and Scott anyways?”

“Nothing,” Tessa replies, adding on nonchalantly “we’re just friends.” In truth, Tessa thinks that there might have been a couple of times when she felt more for him. Once was when he stayed with her after her second surgery. Though it may have been the drugs affecting her, as for the first 5 minutes she awoke Scott told her that she kept referring to him as David Beckham. The other time, she was more lucid as he sneaked a kiss on her cheek just before he handed her a bouquet of flowers when he was ten and she was nine.

“Then why does the internet say otherwise?” Jordan presses as she pauses the movie. While turning to Tessa she smiles, continuing, “And plus, I’ve seen the way he touches and looks at you and how you react. It’s no surprise that the world’s losing its heads each time you guys perform.”

Tessa motions with her hands as she explains that it’s not like that at all between them, “It’s part of our job to show intimacy. Scott and I have been doing this for twenty years and it comes along with the territory.”

Jordan gives her a look, eyebrows raising, “So you admit that you’re intimate... huh.”

Tessa guffaws, “not that  _kind_  of intimacy, I think you’ve been  _hearing about_  too many fanfics.” Jordan rolls her eyes as Tessa grabs the remote and presses play on the movie.

After a second Jordan snatches the remote back from her sister, again pressing pause while turning towards Tessa, “So wouldn’t it be weird if you read the things you guys do in those fics? I mean, I’ve heard it’s not exactly PG-13 material.”

“Eh. It’s just fiction, how bad could it be,” Tessa responds back as she grabs a hold on the remote, again pressing play.  
  
_‘This is the best bad idea we have, sir. By far,’_ Bryan Cranston’s character relays to another as Tessa grabs handful of popcorn.

~

After Jordan leaves, Tessa dives head first into reading the fic again, this time a bottle of red wine accompanying her. The week passes by quickly as she continues reading the works, with most nights ending just before the sun brakes out. Who needs sleep, she thinks to herself, it doesn’t matter to her at all as she’d always been a restless sleeper anyways.

She goes through a range of emotions while reading them, sometimes hysterically laughing, sometimes feeling unease, sometimes just reminiscing about the good old days as she reads some fics that portray her and Scott’s younger years. They’re not all entirely accurate, but they’re close enough she thinks. Tessa likes the cutesy fics the best (the ones with a lot of staring into each other’s eyes), she leaves kudos on those.

She admits to herself that her sister might have been right after encountering her first non-PG13 fic. But like seeing two trains crashing against each other (as the two protagonists of some of the fics also  _crash_  into each other), she just couldn’t stop reading, sometimes with her mouth agape as she reads on. She starts to wonder if she’ll ever look at Scott the same way as before, before entering this world where alternate versions of them exists.

~

Tessa hears her phone ringing louder and louder. It’s too early she thinks while her eyes slowly start to open. She looks at her clock,  _who the hell calls at 5am_ , before realizing the day. “I’m coming, I’m coming!” she yells out to no one in particular as she darts to her closet to quickly get dressed. Within a minute she’s out of her house and in her car,  _a new record time_ , she smiles to herself before slowly realizing that her phone is still ringing beside her bed. She goes back and answers her phone, and without so much a word in knowing who was on the other line she says, “I’m on my way Scott,” sounding a little breathless as she hangs up and rushes towards to her car. She gets to the rink 30 seconds behind her record time.

“Why didn’t you invite me to the party T?” Scott beams out at her, noticing her unusually disheveled look as Tessa starts to walk towards him.

“It wasn’t your scene anyways,” she jokes back at Scott, before explaining that she just had a late night working on a paper for her psychology class.  _Technically this was not a lie_ , as she did read the brief for her paper last night, taking her a full two minutes. Her stomach starts grumbling as if to tell Scott that she’s a big fat liar.  
  
“You should take fifteen and eat something Tess, I’ll start the class without you,” Scott tells her, sounding more like a command rather than a suggestion.

“Thanks,” she says back to him as he walks towards the rink.

“But just know that you owe me breakfast,” Scott chirps while he gives her a wink as he takes off his skate guards. She smiles back at him before heading to the cafeteria, thinking that her and Scott, was still her and Scott, and that the fics were not changing the way she reacted to him.

~

Tessa sits down with a granola bar and an orange juice as she opens her phone to see the next fic she’s going to read for the day. She notices a new one on the page, the summary reads:

\---

He uses the card to unlock the door.

_CLICK_

It opens to his surprise. He didn’t know exactly what to expect, he had never been in this situation before. There was always flirting, but not like this. In their fifteen years together, he had always been the shameless flirt. Never her, but tonight something was different and he was certain to savor every moment of it.

\---

Tessa bookmarks it as she stands up while finishing her last sip. She finds herself eager to finish the session so that she can start to read it later.

~

While Tessa’s on her break, Scott finds himself distracted, thinking about his earlier interaction with Tessa. It doesn’t make sense to him that she would find herself working late on a paper, usually she’s organized her work down a T, the way that T is. It would make more sense to him if Tessa’s sudden new-found tardiness is due to a new-found boyfriend, he grimaces at the idea.

The two of them find themselves both lost in their thoughts throughout the session. She leaves, and reads the new fic. He leaves, and writes another two new chapters.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So what do you guys think? Like Tessa I like to read them all ;)


	3. Expressing Inwards

***  
…

She’s at the precipice of release, and with one last shove Tessa heavily moans into his shoulders, leaving it slightly damp as he rolls his back into the bed. He sighs with content as she moves into her side, her back facing him. She pushes the blanket up to her neck. With concern he asks her, “Are you okay?”  
  
He feels a sharp pain as she softly replies, “I don’t think we should do that again.”  
  
  
***

  
Scott has a busy day ahead of him, he takes a break as starts to review the second half of his third chapter in his therapist’s lounge. He has a meeting with her in fifteen minutes. He blames all of this on his therapist, he never should have listened to all her advice, it wouldn’t have gone so far if he just didn’t. ‘ _Start a journal,’_ he recalls her saying to him two years ago,  _‘it’ll help you to relax more and not feel too much at once. Write down your feelings, that way the book absorbs the extra energy you have.’_  She should have known it wouldn’t end in just a journal entry, she should have known that he always liked to push boundaries. ‘ _Your life will be so much different once you start,’_ he recalls her saying with a smile. Yeah, it’s quite different all right, he thinks to himself as he continues reviewing the chapter. 

 

***  
\---  
  
“Tess!” Scott yells out, stormily marching on as he heads for the changing rooms. There he finds her sitting, staring at him as he enters, as if already knowing he was gonna come.  
  
As he takes a breath with his eyes closed he says, “Why’d you do it?”  
  
Tessa straight-faced, hands digging on the bench, she snips “You humiliated me. You were gone, wallowing in your own pain forgetting I was there feeling the same. You did what you did and I did what I did, so we’ll call it even I guess.”

“No Tess,” he pinches the bridge of his nose and he softly adds, “did you know that he was a friend of mine?”  
  
“Yes,” she states matter-of-factly. He starts to walk closer to her, but suddenly changes his mind as he turns around, mid-way between the door and Tessa. Scott stays put in this spot, unsure of what to do or say next. It wasn’t until he hears her yell, “He wasn’t as forceful as you,” that he makes his decision.  
  
“I quit,” is all he says as he walks on away from her, his fingers stabbing his palms.  
  
  
***

 

“Scott, come in when you’re ready,” he hears his therapist beckon. Putting his phone in his pockets, he enters the copper colored room filled with inspirational quotes. His therapist congratulates him on their win and continues on by gushing about their performance.

“Thanks,” Scott interjects, cutting his therapist mid-sentence as he sinks himself into the velvet covered seat. He has never been good at taking compliments, especially those made by his therapist. The therapy session lasts for an hour, they cover their usual topics- familial relationships, media relationships, his future goals and aspirations. They never have enough time to cover her, her Scott leaves on the pages. The pages once keeping his secrets, his real future goals and hopes on future familial relationships away from the prying eyes of the media and the world.

In truth, Scott started this two-year journey to be closer to Tess, once he found out that she still wanted to skate competitively with him. He had missed her during those two years they spent apart. They saw each other occasionally, but it still wasn’t enough for him. He wanted to be with her every day again, that’s really the reason why he said yes to entering the competition once more. And Scott enjoyed every moment of it, as they practiced endlessly throughout the weeks to perfect each dance. He didn’t want to ruin the experience for Tessa by admitting he was starting to have feelings for her while they were still on their comeback, which is really the reason why he started writing his thoughts down about her. But like thoughts, they turn into dreams, manifesting into his creative sessions about her and him.

Scott didn’t mind waking up at 5am again each morning as long as he knew that Tessa would be there exactly at 5, moodily skating with him in the wee hours when the sun was still sleeping in the sky. He longed for the moments after a good performance when she’d breathlessly smile and wave at the crowds. He smiles in these moments, but only for her as he knows the amount of retraining she had to do, risking pain in order to become the best. Maybe somewhere along the way she got too lost in the performances or maybe she just became a better actress, he thinks, as each of those seven minutes on the ice became more real for him, believing in the love story they themselves told the world. Nothing has really changed between them since, they’re still friends, only now they see each other less and less. The only real interaction between them now is when they give skating lessons to the kids in the community each week. Scott’s starting to see themselves slowly drifting apart once again without the façade of a competition to pull them closer to each other once more.

It’s not like Scott hasn’t tried to get closer to her after finishing the Olympic season, in fact he asked her to dinner a couple of times just last week. Both times turning him down by telling him that she can’t, ‘she has a  _paper._ ’ It’s such a lame excuse that he’s starting to think that her new boyfriend’s name might actually be paper. He’s determined to ask her for the breakfast she owes him tomorrow after their lesson. There’s no chance she’ll refuse,  _unless she admits that she has a boyfriend waiting for her_.

~

Scott arrives at the rink earlier than usual. He finishes a couple of laps of skating as he tries to calm himself down while settling on a plan about how he’s going to ask her to breakfast. It shouldn’t be a big deal, they’ve gone out plenty of times by themselves before. But this is slightly different as they don’t have to talk about competitions, instead it’ll be just them having a simple breakfast together. He skates off the ice as he sees Tessa arrive with a coffee in hand and a slight bounce in her step.

“Hey Tess,” he says excitedly as he approaches the board closest to her. She starts to walk towards him with a smile. “Can I have a sip?” he motions to her cup.

Tessa hands the cup to him with a stern face, “Just don’t finish it.”

He grins, feeling the heat of the cup as he tries to decipher the flavor with the scratches made by the barista. “Who’s Devin?” he remarks as he sees the name scribbled on the cup.

“Oh, just some guy who offered to buy it for me this morning,” Tessa smiles. “Isn’t that nice?”

“Yeah,” Scott forces a smile back. He knows this pattern, and usually he’s always the last one to find out, as Tessa’s always been secretive about her relationships. He hands back the coffee to her without taking a sip. Tessa looks at him confused, “I’m not really into almond milk cappuccino,” Scott says with a slight grimace.

"More for me then," she shrugs, taking the cup away from him as she turns around, heading to the changing rooms. He takes another lap around the rink again, even more so convinced of his suspicions as he thinks back to her being glued to her phone, constantly beaming and giggling. Coupled with her lateness and excuses to not to go out with him,  _yeah, she definitely has a boyfriend_ , he thinks. “What kind of name is Devin anyways,” he mumbles under his breath, he liked it better when she just called him paper.

Lost in his thoughts, it takes him a while to notice Tessa skating around the rink too, looking carefree. He takes a moment to picture her, as it’s a rare sight to behold a Tessa in a good mood at such an early time. He had only managed a couple of times to make her smile and laugh this early in the morning during their twenty years of skating together.

 _He’ll be happy for her_ , he thinks.  _He might grow to like the guy despite his stupid sounding name_ , he persuades himself.  _He might be the one for her, he seems to make her happy_ , catching a glimmer of Tessa’s smile as he tries to smile back before turning a corner. Now with his back facing her, his smile relaxes into a chagrin.

The kids arrive, and they teach the session. Everything goes smoothly according to the lesson plan. His plan however does not, he leaves the rink later that day without asking Tessa to breakfast. Instead, he opens his laptop as soon as he arrives home, adding a single word to the chapter before publishing it.

‘ _FIN_ ’ it reads. He goes out drinking that night. 

~  
  
Tessa grins into her phone as she notices a chapter update. She grabs a glass of red wine as she settles into her night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember back when you guys said that this was funny? _SIKES i guess_  
>  When I first started this I didn't think Scott would be such a moody character. _whoops i guess_  
>  Anyway, let me hear your thoughts :)


	4. Part of Your World

“What?!” Tessa says aloud as she paces around her living room. It’s exactly 2:43 am and she’s still in disbelief after finishing the chapter about five minutes ago. “It can’t end like this,” she tells her screen. “Think calmly,” she says to herself, “it’s just fiction, there’s no use in getting mad,” as she takes another swig at her glass of red wine.  _Screw it, I’m gonna write a comment_ , opening her laptop to the chapter that left her in disbelief. 

Tessa types:  
_That’s not a real ending, there has to be more. I swear to God, if you’re finishing it like this…_

Not a minute after she had made her comment, the author writes back:   
**You’re welcome to write your own ending if you’d like, but for now I’m satisfied with my own. I’m just being a devil’s avocado here because we don’t know what the future holds for them.**

Tessa huffs after reading the comment, she replies to author once more, taking another sip of her wine:   
_You can’t just expect me to believe that they’ll quit being in each other’s lives after 15 years. Come on now, make it believable_.

The author replies, this time Tessa waited for at least two minutes:   
**As I said, I give you permission to write your own edging. Make it believable to you.**

“Edging?” her forehead crumples as she deciphers that the author probably meant to write  _ending_. She starts to write back to the author on possible ending ideas before cancelling her comment, deciding that it’ll probably be better if she wrote it herself. And plus, it was 3am already; she knows that no good conversation can happen this early.

~

It’s 8am and she still hasn’t gone to bed. She tried many times, but the ideas wouldn’t stop, couldn’t stop coming at her. She finally stopped forcing sleep at 4am, and opened her laptop again to write the ending she envisioned.

The last line reads:   
_'At the end of the performance they look at each other and take a bow, never letting go of each other’s hands from that moment on.’_

Tessa sends the author her ending, asking what they think. It isn’t until five hours later that she notices the author reply. Sleep must have taken her during she thinks.

The author’s response:   
**Props to you for wringing! But I have to say, I still don’t like it better than my ending. I think mine’s more realistic. Let’s face it, they’ve been together in each other’s lobes for years now. If there hasn’t been a happy ending yet, it probably means that they never will.**

She decrypts the comment once more, exchanging _wringing_ for writing and _lobes_ for lives. Tessa guesses that the author probably doesn’t read their comments again before sending. Those people annoy her so much sometimes. It’s such a Scott thing to do, she thinks.

Tessa unnerved by the comment calls Scott. He doesn’t answer.

She’s surprised, it’s been years since she’d known Scott to miss a call.  _Maybe he’s busy_ , she tells herself, it’s been a while since she didn’t know what he was up to, in the past 2 years they’ve been syncing their schedules with each other to make competitive life easier. It shouldn’t take her by surprise that they’re drifting apart again, but it does. Right now, she probably knows more details in fiction Scott’s life than her Scott. The thought bothers her, as once in her life she could read her Scott better than the Scott who didn’t exist.

Tessa still too tired to do anything productive, catches up on sleep, unsatisfied with her current situation in life. She basically wrote out a fairy tale ending for her and Scott, the same one she grew up with all these years. “What the Fuck Tessa,” she mumbles herself to sleep.

~

She hears her phone ringing, this time she answers. “Scott?”  
  
“Hey, I saw I missed a call from you this morning. What’s up T?” Tessa hears Scott say, his voice sounding hoarse, reminding her of that time when he lost it after cheering on a hockey match.

“I finished my  _paper_ , let’s have dinner tonight,” partially lying on the paper part, too embarrassed to say that she finished writing out a fairy tale ending for them. He doesn’t respond for a while so she adds on, “if you’re busy we can do it another night.”

Scott coughs, “No tonight’s fine, I’ll pick you up say 7?”  
  
“Sure” she says, not sure why she’s feeling nervous all of a sudden.

“Okay. See you tonight. Bye.” Scott hangs up before she had the chance to battle him on the restaurant.

~

Scott arrives precisely on time, slightly surprising her as he always arrived to everything slightly late if it wasn’t skating related. Tessa opens the door, wearing in a little black dress that has slits on the sides which a company just sent to her the other day. “Hey,” she says as she eyes Scott up and down, noticing him wearing jeans and a plain white t-shirt. She blushes as she looks down on her attire feeling overdressed, “give me a second, I’ll change.”  
  
As Tessa turns around Scott grabs her by the hand, telling her, “Don’t, you look perfect,” his voice still sounding rough.

Tessa tries to hide her nervousness by joking, “Your voice, why didn’t you invite me to the party?”

Scott tries to clear his throat before saying, “It wasn’t your scene anyways” as he nudges her.  
  
They start heading towards his car as she asks him, “So where are you taking me?”  
  
“It’s a surprise, but I think you’ll like it.” He looks at her with a smile.

~  
  
They pull up on a 24-hour dinner. It does take her by surprise, it’s not really the place she thought of when asking him to dinner. It didn’t even make the top ten restaurants on her list if she’s being completely honest with herself.

Scott notices Tessa pull a face as he parks the car, “This is the only place that serves breakfast at this kind of hour.” She laughs while opening the door of his car. He follows suit while saying, “We can totally go somewhere else if you’d like.”  
  
“No,” she smiles, “it’s perfect.”

There’s only a couple of customers in the booths when they arrive. It’s almost eerily silent, apart from the occasional laughs and clinking of glasses. They take a seat by the window as a waitress who’s probably in her 50’s start to approach them, Karen, her name tag says. She hands them the menu and tells them sweetly, “Just wave me over when you’re ready.”

“So, what do you think her life story is?” Scott murmurs as Karen heads back to the kitchen.  
  
“Oh, I don’t know, she probably married her football playing jock of a boyfriend, straight out of high school,” Tessa grins.  
  
“Not by the way she’s kissing the cook’s cheek,” Scott points towards the kitchen window where the potential scandal is occurring as Karen and the cook smile and giggle at each other.  
  
“Not if he became a cook after retiring his football career,” Tessa retorts.  _Ugh_ , there was a time when she wasn’t this cutesy when creating the lives of strangers.

“Touché,” Scott smiles, before asking “you ready to order?” as he puts down his menu.  
  
“Always for breakfast, Scott. You probably know my order already,” Tessa jokes back to him; she’s been ordering the same thing for breakfast, probably for just as long as she knows Scott. He smiles as he waves Karen over.

“So, what do you guys want,” Karen says as she turns over her notepad.  
  
“I’ll have pancakes with bacon on the sides and she’ll have-” Scott gestures to Tessa as he says, “eggs on toast” in a higher pitch, as if making sure that he got her order correct. Tessa nods and smiles at him.  
  
“Okay, I’ll be right back with those orders,” Karen curtly smiles while jotting down their orders in her notepad.  
  
An awkward silence follows after Karen leaves. Tessa, trying to minimize it asks Scott, “Do you think we’ll still be in each other’s lives 20 years from now?”  
  
Scott takes a deep breath, taking a moment before answering truthfully, “I don’t know Tess. I haven’t really thought about it, but 20 years from now I guess I imagine myself coaching other ice dance teams with my brothers while you become someone successful like Dr. Phil or something like that,” fidgeting as he finishes.  
  
“So you imagine me becoming a man in his 60s with hardly a hair on his head 20 years from now?” she jokes, eyebrows raising.  
  
“No,” his face serious, “I imagine you being successful and not really needing me anymore,” he says with a quiet voice.  
  
Before she can reply, Karen walks over to them handing out their orders. “Just call me over if you guys need anything else,” she tells them as she walks away.

As he moves his hands to grab his utensils, Tessa grabs a hold of them saying, “I’ll always be there for you.” She notices him smiling, but she can tell that he’s holding something back from her.

He lets go of her hand and breaks the moment by saying, “We should eat, the food’s starting to get cold.”

Tessa wants to say something more, but unsure of what to say or fearing that she might say too much she just smiles and lets the tension hang in the room, grabbing her utensils. They eat mostly in silence, apart from the scrapping of knives and forks against their plates. She wants to call Karen over and tell her that she wants to order what’s on Scott’s mind to disect it herself.

~  
  
Scott drives her home, they hang around her door until he finally asks, “You’re happy, right?”  
  
“Yeah, I’m pretty happy,” Tessa says, unsure of where this line of question is coming from.  
  
“It’s just I wouldn’t want you to settle for anything less,” his brown eyes softening.  
  
“I don’t think I am,” she says smilingly.

“Great,” he hugs her.  
  
“I mean it when I say I’ll always be there for you Scott,” her chin resting on his shoulder.  
  
“I know you do,” he tells her wistfully and lets go of her as he says “I’ll see you on Saturday” while leaving. Tessa stays put in her spot, watching him leave until he’s out of her sight. This is the third time when she feels something more for him.

She then goes into her apartment. Taking off her shoes, she grabs her laptop as she heads to her couch. She opens her screen to the page, writing to the author:  
_I just have a good feeling about them, I think they’ll be in each other’s lives no matter what._  
  
She closes her laptop, done for the night.

~  
  
Tessa doesn’t notice until the next day that the author wrote back:   
**Maybe, but I doubt it.**


	5. It's A Small World / After All

Scott doesn’t know why, but he’s still commenting with one of his readers. It would be so easy to stop since he already finished writing his fic. But he still does it anyways, keeping his nights busy. It started out with them just mostly bickering about Tessa and Scott. If his reader only knew he was ‘The Scott’ maybe she wouldn’t be so persistent in insisting that _‘she just has a feeling that they’ll always be in each other’s lives.’_ Good luck on fighting a losing battle, he comments back as he thinks about the last interaction he had with Tessa.

 _Taking a calm breath, he asks, ‘You’re happy, right?’_  
  
_“Yeah, I’m pretty happy,” her voice sounding so exuberant._

 _“It’s just I wouldn’t want you to settle for anything less,” he says as he tries to picture her with her new boyfriend._  
  
_“I don’t think I am,” breaking his heart._

 _“Great,” he hugs her, trying to control the emotions seeping through his voice._  
  
_“I mean it when I say I’ll always be there for you Scott,” her voice full of naïve sincerity._

_“I know you do,” he tells her. He believes that at this moment she does. But he knows that they’ll eventually drift apart as she progresses with her relationship. It’d be too hard to be her best friend, he thinks. He wouldn’t compromise her happiness by telling her how he feels, especially when it seems like she doesn’t feel the same way for him; it’d be a sure way to kill their twenty year long friendship. “I’ll see you on Saturday,” he says as he leaves with his head hanging low._

~  
  
It’s Saturday now and Scott’s running a few minutes late to the rink after having a late-night conversation with his reader. They’re getting to know each other, without getting to know one another. The only real substantive thing that he knows about her is that she likes chocolates, after the subject somehow changed to 'things you couldn't live without' after 2am.

Scott comments back:  
**Really? Chocolate? Out of all things in the world. Chocolate.  
**

He logs off and takes a nap after noticing the time. In three hours he was about to teach a group of kids; he needed all the sleep he could get.

~  
  
If Scott is late, then Tessa is later, as he notices her car pull up five seconds behind his. He waits for her as she gets out of her car.  
  
“Late night?” He asks.  
  
A yawn and a nod answers his question. They walk in silence as Scott doesn’t really want to know the details of Tessa's late night.  
  
It takes him by surprise when she asks, “Are you seeing someone?” as they reach the door to the ice stadium.  
  
“No?”  
  
“No?” Tessa copies the inflection of his voice.  
  
“No,” more confident in his answer.  
  
“Okay,” she lets go of the conversation as they start their class together.  
  
_That was weird_. Maybe she’s trying to set me up with someone he thinks.

The kids come rushing towards them as they eagerly await to start the session. As they do warm-ups and group exercises together, it doesn't escape him that Tessa is still yawning. He can't help but yawn as well.  
  
~

They take a table together in the cafeteria as they settle themselves during a ten-minute break. Tessa puts her phone down on the table as she grabs both her and Scott chocolate milk from the fridge.  
  
Scott takes a seat as he checks his phone and notices that his reader had replied back:  
_Chocolate is basically food from the Gods. I should have known that you wouldn't understand, people who are cynical in life rarely do._

He smiles as he comments:  
**Okay. Give me your favorite brand and I'll try it, you might just turn this cynic.**  
  
As he puts down his phone he notices that Tessa’s lights up. He sneaks a quick glance to satisfy his curiosity about the texts Tessa's been receiving. To his dismay the words on the screen are his.

_SHIT._

He checks back on his phone, wondering if he accidentally sent Tessa a text message that was supposed to be a comment for his reader.

Scott didn’t make a mistake, he did send it to his reader.

He shoots out of his seat as he realizes the implication of this knowledge, heading towards the door with Tessa’s confused face following him as she holds two glasses of chocolate milk.  
  
Scott's mind is in shambles, he can’t quite process anything that just happened as he takes a seat on a bench. Tessa follows him out of the cafeteria and bends down in front of him, hands on both sides of his shoulders as she asks, “What happened? Are you okay Scott?”  
  
He doesn’t know how to quite reply. _What happened?_ He’s not entirely sure at this moment. _Are you okay Scott?_ No, certainly not. _Has he died?_ Maybe.  
  
Tessa continues stroking his arms up and down, calming him as he slowly comes to term with the fact that Tessa is _the reader, his reader_. “You should sit,” he tells her, still shell-shocked.  
  
“Okay,” Tessa says calmly as she sits beside him with a hand laying on his shoulder.  
  
“Ugh,” Scott groans, slowly dying inside as he tries to start what probably is the most awkward conversation he’s ever had in his life. “I don’t know how to say this,” he grimaces.

“Don’t be so dramatic Scott.”

He shoots her a look.

“Fine. I promise to keep my mouth shut until you finish,” making a zipping gesture on her mouth.

Taking a moment, he blows out a breath saying, “I know you’ve been reading fanfics about us Tess.”  
  
She takes her hand off his shoulders as her mouth start to move, “I... I-”

“Wait. Let me finish,” he interrupts her. With both of his hands digging in his hair as if trying to unearth the golden words that would magically make all it better, Scott slowly starts, “We’ve been communicating with each other… I think without either of us knowing it.” His hands move towards his mouth, distorting his voice, “It’s me Tess, I’ve been-”  
  
“Break time’s over, spin time! Spin time!” a little girl in pigtails exclaims, cutting him off as she grabs a hold of Scott’s arm, willing him towards the rink. Scott mentally thanks the little girl while mouthing later to a confused looking Tessa left behind, sitting on the bench.

~

Tessa’s mind is spinning. It doesn't help the fact that she herself is actually spinning on the ice; teaching the kids the proper technique. _What the fuck was happening?_ _How did he know that she was reading fanfics about them? What did he mean that they’ve been communicating with each other without knowing it? He couldn’t possibly be… No. There’s no way, no fucking way._ Tessa losses her balance at the thought and stumbles, barely catching herself from falling on the ice. She composes herself and continues teaching, eyes anywhere but in the direction of Scott.

She had only been communicating anonymously with one person, the author. The author who knew about the chapter she wrote. The author who knew her optimistic view of her and Scott finding a way to be with each other. The author who was a pessimist. The author who wrote that devastating ending about them, and their friendship. The author who didn’t believe that they would ever be with each other. _Had she thought wrong all these years? She always thought that Scott was half in love with her, but with this revelation she wouldn’t be surprised if he detested her_.

~

The kids were now bursting to go out of the door as their session finished. Tessa, still juggling her thoughts continues to skate on the ice, going faster and faster as she now knew the thought he was holding back when they last had dinner together. _He didn’t think that she’ll always be there for him because he knew that he wouldn’t be there for her; that maybe he had grown tired of her and wished that their friendship of twenty years would come to a halt_.

Tessa’s eyes well up as Scott approaches her.  
  
“Don’t,” she stops and holds her hand out to him. “Don’t pretend to be my friend. If you can’t stand me just say so. Just say it to me straight Scott. I don’t need you to be nice, I just want you to tell me the truth.”

“It’s true, I don’t want to be your friend. I’ve known it for a while now.” 

Hurt shown on her face as he continued, “I didn’t want it to happen this way, but I might as well just say it now. Tess, I don’t want your friendship. If I could live without you I would, it shattered me to think that you were in love with-”

 _Me,_ Tessa completes the sentence in her mind as she turns away from him, she didn’t want him to see her cry. Scott had confirmed her fears. _Yes, she had been in love with him and yes, he didn’t love her back_.

“It’s important for me to say this Tess, I need you to hear me.” Scott says as he follows her around. “It shattered me to think that you were in love with… somebody else. It hurt to think that another guy was making you happy, because Tess I love you.” He wiped her tears with his thumb as he continued on, “I wouldn’t stand in the way if you found the guy who made you happy, but I don’t think I could watch it happen either.”

Confused, she looks him in the eyes. “Guy?”  
  
“Devin.”  
  
“Devin?” Tessa didn’t understand him, _who was Devin?_

He was starting to look confused too. “The guy that you’ve been seeing, the guy who bought you coffee, the guy who made you smile and giggle when he shot you a text, the guy-” 

Tessa starts to laugh at him, the pool of tears in her eyes now empty.  
  
“You big oaf!” she punches his arm. “I can’t believe I fell in love with a dumbass! Devin-” Scott doesn’t let her finish her sentence as he unabashedly kisses her and pulls her tighter towards him. It didn’t matter that to him he was cold or that her lips tasted of salt; because in that moment he knew that she had loved him back and nothing could stop the moment from being perfect.

~

Sitting on his couch with her feet on his lap, Tessa curiously asks him, “How did you know that I was your relentless reader?”  
  
“I was curious about Devin.” Scott says with a laugh while massaging her feet. “I saw your screen light up and I couldn’t help myself from wondering about the guy who made you happy. So imagine me shocked when I saw my comment on your phone.”     
  
“Then wasn’t it obvious to you that I wanted us to be together after knowing that I was your reader?”

“No, I thought you were just upset that the fic ended up with us parting ways.”  
  
She considers his reply for a moment before asking, “Wasn’t it obvious with the fairy tale ending I wrote to you?”  
  
“No Tessa. It wasn’t,” he laughs.

“Well let me be obvious now,” Tessa says as moves to straddle him, her fingers caressing his hair. “I want you Scott,” she breathes against his lips, playfully biting them as her fingers find its way around his belt buckle.

~  
  
Scott wakes up in the middle of the night and smiles, noticing the pale figure sleeping gently beside him with her delicate fingers on his chest. Careful not to wake her up, he slowly plies himself out of her hold and softly tiptoes out of bed, kissing her forehead in the process. He opens his laptop on his desk and republishes his once dreary fic. This time he adds the chapter she wrote to him as he writes a few more optimistic lines at the end.  
  
The final chapter reads:

***

 

She knew that face, she had memorized it from a long time ago. It may have had a few wrinkles here and there, but she could still recognize him and the way his brown eyes glinted when he let out a hearty laugh. She didn’t know if it was fate that brought them together or if it was just dumb luck, but she knew that she had missed him and that her anger had subsided a long time ago. _Would he still resent her after all these years had passed?_ It turns out he didn’t as he smiled back to her after he noticed her staring at him.

“Hi stranger,” Scott said as he moved closer to Tessa, his voice sounding as sweet as she remembered.

“Scott, I’ve missed you.” Tessa said, as she pulled him into a hug.

“I’ve missed you too kiddo.” He gave her a friendly peck on the cheek. “If I had known you were here I would have moved a lot sooner,” he smiled.

They took a seat in front of the TV, muting Alex Trebek’s voice. Hours passed as they caught up with each other, chatting the night away as they learned about years they had spent without each other by their side. The years may have aged them, but they still were the same Tessa and Scott that the other had remembered. Scott was still kind and sweet and Tessa was still quick-witted and beautiful.

\---  
  
The others knew about their shared history and willed them to dance with each other the next day. It had been a while since she danced with a partner, and she didn’t know if she could again. He removed her fears as he took her hands in his, swaying together as the music started. He made her feel like she was twenty-three again; the way her heart beat the same rhythm as his and the way his lips touched the crook of her neck.

She started crying as she heard the lyrics:  
_Love can touch us one time_  
_And last for a lifetime_  
_And never let go till we're gone_  
  
With a finger he erases her tears as he softly serenades her:  
_Love was when I loved you_  
_One true time I hold you_  
_In my life we'll always go on_

It didn’t matter that the years had gone by. All that mattered was here and now; they were in each other’s lives at seventy-nine and eighty, dancing in the lounge of a retirement home as if it was the norm for them. More than half a century had passed, and yet they still had that special bond between them. It didn’t matter that they had married other people, it didn’t matter that they had led different lives. It mattered to them that they had found each other again, and that they never lost hope of that.

At the end of the performance they look at each other and take a bow, never letting go of each other’s hands from that moment on.  
  
“I love you,” he whispers next to her ear.

She smiles saying, “I love you too.”

It was as if nothing could ever go wrong once they were in each other’s lives and held each other once more. Their hearts were beating with the sound of love, never stopping as it went on and on.

_\---_  
  
FIN.

 

***

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys for reading!! I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I had fun writing it.  
> In case you didn't know, the song they danced to was My Heart Will Go On by Celine Dion.
> 
> (The next chapter is just a small epilogue / a scene outtake that I didn't feel belonged in this chapter)


	6. Epilogue

“I can’t believe you don’t know this already.” Scott says as he maneuvers his way around his tablet to land on the page. “You’re getting slower in your old age Virtch,” he smiles at her.

“That’s why I have you for this,” her lips landing on the side of his mouth before taking a bite of chocolate. "You want some", she gestures to him.  
  
His face glowed and his eyes turned mischievous. He turned to lick her lips before saying "How could I resist."

"Scott!" Tessa squealed, as she turned her face against his body, preventing further attacks.   
  
"Okay, okay, I'll stop now", he nuzzles her face as he gets back to their original plan. “So are you in the mood for _best fluffy one-shot about nicknames_ or  _‘most romcom you can get’ one shot_ ,” he says as he eyes the vm fic masterlist.

“Surprise me _Scotty_ ,” she winks as she scoots closer to him, her head landing on his shoulder as he starts to read to her:

 _'_   _ **2000** _

_The first time, she was the one to bring it up. She was ten. And although Scott had no interest whatsoever in weddings or love or marriage at the time, she was still Tessa, and he was still Scott, so he listened to her anyway._

‘

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading all the way to the end :)
> 
> If you're curious about the tumblr post that built the foundation of this fic [here it is ](http://rainy-sunshine.tumblr.com/post/172463140776/obviously-extra-question-which-fanfic-would-scott)(Special shout-out to @rainy-sunshine and her anon for planting the idea of this fic)
> 
> If you're wondering about the fic Scott reads to Tessa [here it is ](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14043585/chapters/32346852) (Marry Me by Claire8216. READ IT! It's one of my faves)
> 
> If you're wondering about the vm fic masterlist itself [here it is ](http://rainy-sunshine.tumblr.com/post/172308040416/anonymous-said-hey-can-you-rec-some-of-your-fav) (Again, special shout-out to @rainy-sunshine for compiling the list. Also it's worth perusing her tumblr for her amusing head-canons/prompts)


End file.
